When OSF HealthCare opens its Cancer Institute in Peoria early next year, the facility will include a Breakthrough Treatment Center.
The center will offer patients access to groundbreaking clinical trials and innovative therapies. It also will enhance research efforts to improve early-detection capabilities for all cancers.
OSF leaders hope the access to breakthrough treatment will benefit both the Peoria community and cancer patients from across the Midwest.
Dr. Mike Cruz, OSF’s chief operating officer, said the Breakthrough Treatment Center will enhance the kind of care the center can offer.
“First of all, tremendous capabilities that we don’t have,” said Cruz. “What does that look like? It’s access to clinical trials that aren't currently available to not only local and Tri-County (residents), but be even beyond the state of Illinois. So patients (will be) coming in to receive therapies that might only be available in three or five or 10 centers, possibly even worldwide — and so people travel for that. It'd be really nice to (tell) people in the Midwest, who have to go long distances to access certain clinical trials, that we can have access to here.”
Not only will the breakthrough treatment capability bring innovative care options closer to patients in the region, Cruz added, but it also will attract patients from beyond the Midwest.
“Anybody can build a building, anybody can open new cancer center, you know, fine. But from the beginning, we said this had to be different.”Dr. James McGee, OSF HealthCare
“The impact to that in the community is amazing, because you'd bring people who aren't even familiar with being here — it could be somebody in Denver, Colorado, who doesn't have access to a trial, it's available here,” he said. “So they come to Peoria to receive that therapy, under trial purposes through appropriate research, phase 1, 2, 3 and 4 trials that we will be able to execute here.”
Dr. James McGee is the medical director for the OSF oncology service line, and a radiation oncologist at Saint Francis Medical Center. He said bringing early-phase clinical treatments and cancer prevention tools to the greater Peoria area is a big step.
“Anybody can build a building, anybody can open new cancer center, you know, fine,” said McGee. “But from the beginning, we said this had to be different. It had to really be special in order to, first of all, ask as much as we did of the community in terms of donations, and secondly, ask as much from the health care system as we did to make this possible. So, you want something for those commitments that’s really special, and that's what this is.”
McGee said the $237 million OSF Cancer Institute will enable patients to participate in clinical trials and specialized treatment options.
“That's the type of stuff that normally you say, ‘Well, I've got a cancer. Traditional treatments aren't helping me very much. Where am I going to have to go? ‘Well, you have to go to New York City.’ ‘Well, OK, how long are we going to be there?’ ‘Well, quite a long time.’ ‘How much is that going to cost? … Well, I can't afford to do that.’ That's what we hear all the time.”
OSF will operate the Breakthrough Treatment Center in collaboration with Origin, a network of science institutes and professionals working to develop and bring promising therapies to communities that show a need.
“Peoria happens to be one of those, not just because it's Peoria, but because OSF has built a culture that has begun to center around the patients and their families, which is so unique,” said Cosmo Smith, Origin’s managing partner. “So it's not just a population in need. It's a culture that's been forming around patients and their families.
“So when you look at the explosion of scientific and medical advances in the last 20 years, and that we're going to see in the next 5-10 years, one of the things that has to happen is patients and their families and their needs have to be supported not only clinically and spiritually and mentally, but support systems have to be built around those patients (and) feedback systems have to be built around those patients.”
Smith said the Peoria area, and OSF in particular, are “uniquely suited” for fostering the development and implementation of scientific discovery needed in cancer treatment, adding he sees the Cancer Institute building a reputation for more than a comprehensive range of care options.
“It will become known for early detection of complex cancers, so that we can get ahead of those and have a greater likelihood of treating those patients. It will become known for aligning the interests of patients and their families and involving them in the discovery of new therapies, as an equal partner (with) the clinical and the scientific partners.
“Ultimately, those support systems ... are going to have just as much impact as the medical portion of their cures.”Cosmo Smith, Origin
“And I think, thirdly, something that we often times overlook: Even with great science and great access, we often overlook the need for patients to have access to therapies closer to home, to have access to therapies that they can contribute to, and support systems that really understand who they are, why they're there where they are. Ultimately, those support systems and support capabilities like they'll have access to here are going to have just as much impact as the medical portion of their cures.”
Cruz said the Breakthrough Treatment Center will operate simultaneously while the Cancer Institute is conducting normal oncology care, noting the center will bolster OSF’s relationship with the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Peoria; the entire fourth floor of the institute will be dedicated to research.
“What really excites me is: bringing clinicians, bringing expertise, and ultimately serving patients safely,” said Cruz. “With a proton beam here, and the radiation and the surgery and the medical oncology relationships, we just have tons more opportunity to take care of patients closer to home. So, we will send people tomorrow to a place where it might be a flight (or) it might be a 16-hour drive. In the future, we would love to be able to provide certain of those services here locally.”
McGee said the Breakthrough Treatment Center will give patients more potential to receive advanced care.
“Just as proton therapy coming here (and) is going to allow us to bring all new types of treatments that patients haven't had access to before, so too this brings early-phase clinical treatments and cancer prevention tools to the people in the region,” said McGee. “Largely, this is the type of stuff that was accessible in inner-city academic programs, and our people just can't drive to the inner city of Chicago and stay there and go 30 times (a year).”
Construction on the $237-million, 180,000-square-foot Cancer Institute is on schedule for an early 2024 opening. McGee envisions the institute and Breakthrough Treatment Center helping Peoria grow into a biotech destination.
“What it means to me is the fact that we're getting a lot of value to the community for the monies that have been spent and I think this is just a good start,” said McGee. “We'll continue down that path for a very long time, and after 2-3-4 or 5 years, more and more people will start to believe. More and more people will move here; they'll bring their businesses here. The economy will benefit from that and this will start to really be a driver for a better health (and) a driver for a better economy.”
